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Basic Self Defense for New Players

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Illyriad is generally a warm and welcoming community for new players. However, in any group of people there are those who would seek an advantage by preying upon those who are less powerful. Therefore, it behooves new players to learn about the threats they face and how to counteract them.

This guide describes the most common attacks new players may face and describes steps all new players should take to defend against them. I will focus on steps players should take in their first week of play, while still under beginner protection, in order to be prepared to defend against attacks when the rainbow wears off.

Note: Alliances are an excellent source of support and defense for new players. Just being in an alliance can offer a measure of protection against military attacks, and in general alliances will help defend their members and assist them in recovering from any attack.

Types of Attacks

There are two basic types of attacks a new player might face:

  1. Military Attacks: Attacks on a city by armies
  2. Diplomatic Attacks: May take the form of thieves, saboteurs, or assassins

Important: New players are more likely to be attacked by thieves than any other form of attack. Therefore, this guide will first focus on defending against theft, although the defenses against theft will also help guard against other types of attack.

Essential Buildings

Mage Tower

The Mage Tower provides essential magical defenses through runes. You may only cast one spell from the Rune school on your city, so you must choose EITHER a Slaying OR a Seeking rune.

Slaying Runes
Rune Type Mage Tower Level Kills (# units)
Mark of Slaying Level 3 5
Death Rune Level 7 20
Killing Glyph Level 11 75
Ward of Destruction Level 15 250

Note: Casting Slaying or Seeking runes requires books and cattle as well as mana and basic resources.

Seeking Runes
Rune Type Mage Tower Level Kills (# units)
Mark of Seeking Level 2 12
Seeking Rune Level 6 40
Seeking Glyph Level 10 130
Ward of Intentions Level 14 400

Practical Tip: If you upgrade your Mage Tower once each day during your 7 days of new player protection, you will emerge from protection being able to cast a Death Rune or a Seeking Rune.

Rune Mechanics:

  • Runes stay in effect until they have killed the specified number of enemy units
  • 6-hour cooldown after exhaustion or replacement
  • You receive mail notifications for activation/deactivation
  • Use mail timestamps to track cooldown periods

Consulate

The Consulate allows production of diplomatic units to protect your town. Your army will NOT defend against diplomatic attacks - only diplomatic units of the same type can defend against diplomatic attacks.

Required Research
Consulate Level Research Effect
Level 1 CounterIntelligence Allows diplos to defend against enemies
Level 5 Interrogation Diplos may discover who sent diplos
Level 5 Finesse Opens way for studies for spies, thieves
Level 9 Diplomacy Allows study of Theft
Level 9 Theft Allows building thief units
Thief Units
Race T1 Thief Unit
Human Burglar
Elf Rogue
Dwarf Footpad
Orc Goblin Cutpurse

Note: T1 thieves have better defense for the money (gold upkeep) than T2 thieves. Players looking mainly to defend should focus on T1 units.

Thief Production Requirements:

  • Gold
  • Horses
  • Books
  • Upkeep: 2 gold per hour (T1)

Military Defense

New players are not likely to be attacked militarily by larger players. If you are attacked:

  1. Send mail to the attacker indicating you are active
  2. Go to global chat immediately
  3. Be prepared to provide attack details (attacker, arrival time)
  4. Forward attack reports if requested

Important: The Illy community takes military attacks by larger players on smaller ones very seriously; for this reason alone, these attacks are rare.

New Player vs New Player

You are more likely to be targeted by a fellow new player than by a veteran. The community is less likely to intervene directly in this sort of attack. However:

  • Slaying runes will also affect incoming military units
  • This is one of the main benefits of using a Slaying rune for new players

Note: For information on building military capability, check out the guide to military development.

Resource Protection

Vault

The vault adds to storage capacity and protects a portion of stored goods automatically.

Level 3 Vault:

  • Build Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (levels 1-3)
  • Resource Cost: 300 of each resource
  • Protection:
  • 7,500 of each basic resource (food, wood, clay, stone, iron)
  • 7,500 gold
  • 30 of each advanced resource

Important: Building a vault beyond level 3 significantly increases resource requirements and is probably unnecessary for most new players.

Research Requirements:

  • Timekeeping
  • Bureaucracy
  • Safeguard

Best Practice: Build a vault at the end of your first week, just prior to emerging from beginner's protection.

Offsite Storage

Items that cannot be thieved:

  • Research points
  • Cattle
  • Horses
  • Siege blocks
  • Items harvested by cotters/advanced harvesters
  • Crafted equipment

Faction Hub Storage Requirements: 1. Research: - Guilds (4 hours, 100 RP) - Merchants Guild (2 hours, 2,000 RP) - Faction Markets (2 hours, 500 RP) 2. For retrieval: - Marketplace Level 10 - Trader research (3 days, 3,000 RP) - Merchants Guild building - Trader upkeep: 30 gold/hour

Getting Help

Alliance Support

Your alliance can reinforce your city with:

  • Military units
  • Diplomatic units attached to armies

Tip: If you're experiencing theft attacks, alert your alliance leadership.

Resource Management

  1. Convert most gifted books to research points
  2. Keep 10-20 books for spells and diplo units
  3. Store excess advanced resources with trusted alliance mates
  4. Use faction hubs for secure storage

After an Attack

Types of Attacks and Effects

  1. Military Attacks
  2. Can kill your army
  3. May take basic resources
  4. Vault protects resources up to its limit

  5. Sieges require immediate global chat assistance

  6. Theft

  7. Can take basic or advanced resources
  8. Cannot take: cattle, horses, siege blocks, harvested items, crafted equipment
  9. Remember: They can't steal what you don't have

Emotional Response

Important: Being attacked, especially without provocation, can be infuriating. However, there's very little an attacker can do to damage your long-term growth prospects.

Remember:

  • It's not the end of the world
  • There's no shame in being new
  • The shame is on those who prey on new players
  • Ask for help from veterans
  • Don't let attacks drive you away

Conclusion

Every new player has a responsibility to: 1. Take appropriate precautions against attack 2. Limit potential rewards to attackers 3. Make stealing painful for thieves 4. Increase chances of catching attackers

Final Note: Stay strong, keep building, and you will succeed! The Illyriad community stands against attacks on new players.

Edited by Rill - 10 Jan 2016 at 09:48